If the US military had nothing better to do than step on little insects like Sgrena, there be much more subtle and effective ways to accomplish the job than waiting for a car with her in it to come racing at a checkpoint.

Hooo Boy! Stern is on a roll today. They have switched to a different story (http://www.stern.de/politik/panorama/537385.html?nv=hp_rt) now on the funeral of the Italian agent Calipari. This story uses the word "erschossen (shot)" instead of "ermordet (assassinated or murdered)," but the link to the original story is still good.

They also have an extended feature on American history up (http://www.stern.de/politik/ausland/index.html?id=501298&nv=sb). It is called "Die Geschichte der USA (The History of the USA)" with the following charming byline: "Noch nie hat eine Nation den Globus so dominiert wie die USA. Und dem Volk ist der Rest der Menschheit egal. (Never in the history of the planet has a nation been so dominant as the USA. And its people don't care at all about the rest of humanity)."

The modern German media has gone beyond Goebbels -- he had to use propaganda. Nowadays, they openly promote their hatred of the US and correctly fear absolutely no backlash from the German public. Note that they don't say "Bush doesn't care" or "some Americans don't care," but rather "its people don't care." This is a deeply vile comment to make about a country that has spent billions of dollars and suffered thousands of casualties in an effort to bring democracy to long suffering peoples. Not to mention the massive aid to areas struck by the Tsunami.

These Leftists are absolutely enraged that we won't let them dictate the domestic and foreign policy of our country. Make no mistake about it, they hate us because the want to hate us, they are our enemy because they want to be our enemy. I truly hate to be shrill, but I no longer believe that we will be able to settle our differences and live in peace with such people. The Leftists will not give up until they have destroyed us or we have destroyed them.

Unbelievable byline from Stern...What kind of trash publication is that? It's no wonder the population has anti-American feelings. My question is how/why so many German "journalists" are negatively predisposed to all things American - which I am convinced of after browsing the site.

Amazing how there are claims of 300-400 bullet holes in the vehicle that the so-called journalist from Italy was a passenger in, but the Italian intelligence guy got killed by a single gunshot to the head.

And as mentioned on another blog, if 300-400 bullets were pumped into that vehicle, there ain't nobody coming out of that alive. But alas! The so-called journalist and one other person survived. Hmmmm.

Another innocent person just bit the dust. A Bulgarian soldier was killed at a US checkpoint. Let me guess: He ignored all warnings and the US soldiers had no recourse but to open fire and to shot into his engine block. And their will be an investigation. Thank you very much.

--- http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/03/07/bulgaria.iraq/index.html
He [= Bulgarion minister of defense] said Gardev died when his patrol, which had fired warning shots to stop an Iraqi civilian car, received heavy fire from the direction of a U.S. Army communications facility 150 meters (165 yards) away.
---

More Indonesians have a positive view of the US today than last year. This can be directly linked to the United States pro-active assitance after the Tsunami last December.

The amount of Indonesians with a positive view of the US has risen to 40% compared to 36% that still have a negative view. Those with a negative view of the US were over the 50% mark after the US invaded muslim Afghanistan and Iraq. Indonsia is the largest Musim populated country in the world with a population of 600 million.

Like wise, Osama Bin Ladens popularity has dramatically decreased from a high of 70% who had a postive view of Bin Laden to a low of 28% today.

No word on how popular Germany is in Indonisia after Gerd Schroeders $500 million dollar promise of aid to Indonisia. There is no effective way to measure Schroeder's checkbook diplomacy when the promises havn't done anything to help the people yet.